Encountering Team 8

Takuma finished his day's missions and spent another two hours pushing himself at the training grounds. He wandered the streets dragging his exhausted body; while his healing factor was constantly repairing his muscles, it couldn't do anything about his empty stomach.

He just wanted to find a place to have a massive meal.

Turning a street corner, the aroma of grilled meat hit him head-on. Takuma's body reacted before his brain did, his feet moving uncontrollably toward the source of the scent. The Akimichi Clan's barbecue restaurant was the recognized paradise for carnivores in Konoha Village, and the "All You Can Eat" sign on the storefront glowed brightly in the night.

He felt the wallet in his ninja tool pouch. He had just received his pay for recent missions, and he wasn't in a rush to pay back Tenten. His training had consumed too much energy today; if he didn't eat meat, he might die tomorrow. This reason was sufficient, so he pushed open the wooden door of the restaurant.

The smell of grease, the sizzling sound of fat on the iron plate—all sensory information flooded in at once. Just as Takuma was preparing to find a corner seat to finish his dinner discreetly, his footsteps froze the moment his gaze swept across the room.

Sitting at a long table by the window were four people he recognized.

Inuzuka Kiba was standing on his chair, gesturing at Akamaru beside him with a meat-covered bone. Aburame Shino sat upright across from them, one or two bugs occasionally crawling out of his collar before scurrying back in. Hyuga Hinata had her hands neatly placed on her knees, her white eyes fixed on the raw pork belly in front of her, seemingly hesitant about whether to pick up her chopsticks. Their team leader, Yuhi Kurenai, rested her chin on one hand while swirling a wine glass with the other, radiating the full, lazy aura of a mature woman.

Team 8, all present.

Takuma's instinct was to turn around and retreat. It wasn't because he feared them, but because of a dark history from when he was six years old. The original owner of the body he now inhabited had once participated in the bullying of Hinata. Although he had immediately defected and joined the fray on her side after his soul transmigrated into this body, that kind of thing wasn't something one could just brush off with a simple "I wasn't thinking clearly at the time."

It seemed it was already too late to retreat.

"Hey! You over there!" Kiba's sense of smell was sharper than a dog's; Takuma was spotted before he could even turn around. "Aren't you that..."

Kiba jumped off his chair, squinting as he sized Takuma up, seemingly struggling to recall something. Then, his expression shifted from confusion to realization, and finally to anger.

"It's you! The jerk who bullied Hinata when we were kids!"

The eyes of the entire restaurant instantly focused on Takuma.

Akamaru bared his teeth in coordination, though he lacked any real intimidation due to his small size. Shino pushed up his sunglasses, and the movement of the bugs in his collar accelerated significantly—a sign that he was feeling hostile. Hinata shrank her shoulders, her cheeks flushing red, her eyes darting around, not knowing where to look.

Only Yuhi Kurenai remained holding her wine glass, watching the scene with interest.

Takuma took a deep breath and raised his hands.

"I plead guilty, I apologize, and I repent."

Before anyone could react, he strode over to Hinata and bowed at a perfect ninety-degree angle.

"Hinata-sama, I am deeply sorry for what happened when we were kids! Although I turned against them and joined your side halfway through, the cause was me being an idiot and following two fools around! I won't make excuses! I am formally apologizing to you here!"

His voice was loud, his attitude sincere, and his posture standard. Everyone in the restaurant was stunned.

Hinata's face turned red to the roots of her hair, her hands waving frantically in the air.

"I-it's okay... I don't mind that anymore... and you did help me back then..." Her voice grew smaller and smaller, the final words barely audible.

"I am truly very sorry." Takuma added another sentence while maintaining his bow before finally straightening up.

Kiba's expression was stuck between half-angry and half-suspicious, looking quite comical. He had prepared a whole script for interrogating the guy, but the other party had admitted his fault faster than he could deliver his threats. It was like punching cotton; he felt incredibly stifled.

"Hmph! You're sensible enough, at least!" Kiba could only manage that much before plopping back into his chair, pulling Akamaru into his arms and rubbing him to vent his frustration.

Shino remained silent for a moment, and the bugs in his collar quieted down. He nodded slightly, accepting the apology. As a member of the Aburame clan, his emotional control was far superior to Kiba's.

"Since the misunderstanding is cleared up," Yuhi Kurenai said with a smile as she set down her glass, "why not sit down and eat with us? Eating barbecue alone is quite lonely."

Takuma hesitated. His reason told him he should politely decline and find a corner to eat by himself, but his wallet told him that mooching a meal off Team 8 would save him a lot of money. His wallet won.

"Then I'll take you up on that."

Takuma sat at the end of the long table, and the proprietress quickly brought over a new set of bowls and chopsticks.

The meat sizzled on the iron plate, fat dripping along the grain and sparking small flames. Takuma skillfully flipped the slices, grilling them until they were golden brown and slightly charred, then dipped them in sauce and took a bite, his mouth filled with savory flavor.

Hinata's voice suddenly sounded.

"Um... Morimiya-kun." She gripped the hem of her clothes, gathering the courage to look at Takuma. "Thank you for that time."

Her voice was very soft, so soft that Takuma almost thought it was an auditory hallucination caused by the sizzling meat.

"You don't need to thank me, do you? I was on the side that was bullying you back then." Takuma gave a wry smile.

"It's different." Hinata shook her head earnestly. "Back then... if Naruto-kun and you hadn't rushed out, I might have stayed afraid forever." Hinata's eyes turned slightly red. "Every time I encounter difficulties later on, I think of that day. Not the terror of being surrounded, but the image of someone standing up for me. It has made me work hard to become stronger."

Takuma stared blankly at Hinata. He remembered the growth trajectory of Hinata from the original story, transforming from a timid, cowardly little girl into a kunoichi who dared to stand up to Pain. He had thought it was entirely due to Naruto's influence, never imagining that his own unintentional actions back then had played a part.

He suddenly felt that this transmigration thing might not be so bad after all.

Just then, a familiar system notification sounded in his mind.

[Event detected: "Team 8's Dinner"]

[Witness Judgment: Amidst the smoky atmosphere of the barbecue restaurant, old grievances were resolved by a sincere apology. The shadow of fear in Hyuga Hinata's heart was ultimately replaced by courage and warmth.]

[Obtained Lucky Draw ×1]

Takuma silently initiated the draw. A palm-sized blue doll fell into his palm. A round head, big eyes, and a shell on its back—it was Squirtle from Pokémon. The doll's mouth opened slightly, and a thin stream of water sprayed out, perfectly filling the teacup in front of him.

"What is that?" Kiba leaned over to look. "What a strange ninja beast doll."

"...A toy that sprays water." Takuma stuffed the Squirtle into his ninja tool pouch with a blank expression, complaining wildly in his heart. This system's taste was getting more and more absurd. Last time it was Buzz Lightyear's wings, this time a Squirtle doll; was it going to give him a transforming toy car next? He seriously suspected the system's prize pool was stocked from a Toys "R" Us in some parallel universe.

"But it's actually quite cute," Hinata said softly, looking at Takuma's ninja tool pouch with a faint smile.

Takuma shook his head helplessly and popped the last piece of grilled meat into his mouth.